Create number tracing worksheet

Question

I’d love to create something like this using latex.

There’s a great post achieving something similar with letters, so I think I just need some tikz code for the digits themselves. Is anybody able to help?

Thanks so much!

Answer 1

Here's a starting point for you. To better follow the code you cited I took the liberty to:

• indicate by comments, what the various parts do
• remove some parts not needed here (let's call it simplification)
• adjusted the indenting to better see the codes structures
• added "1" and "4" as a demo

As Tikz can be overwhelming for the beginner, though it's "simple" once you understood its basic concepts, I suggest to study the 4 tutorials at the beginning of the pgfmanual several times. To separate frequently from less frequently used commands I suggest to focus on these first:

• \draw and styles (put as [options]) ... ;
• \path ... ;

Amongst the more advanced statements used here try to get the essence of these:

\foreach \X [count=\Y] in {A,1,4}

• lets variable \X take values A, 1 and 4
• uses index-counts (of \X), which runs through 1, 2, and 3, used for placements

code={
...
}

• a way to put a series of "drawing"-commands inside a \pic
• where you can consider a picture \pic as a kind of tikz-macro

That should make ~ 70 % of the code quite readable to you.

Finally, just introduce more digits inside the \tikzset-statement the way I indicated AND expand the list at the end of this statemen \foreach \X [count=\Y] in {A,1,4} . Take care to define the -mid coordinate somewhere in the drawing path, as it's needed to draw those lines of characters in the documents main-code.

Look for \arc, circle, ellipse for the other digits inside the manual, while recapitulating the path-concept : to perform a series of actions until the ; .

\documentclass[tikz,border=3mm]{standalone}
 % ~~~ drawing on 3 layers, display-order as stated ~~~~~~~~~
 \pgfdeclarelayer{background} 
 \pgfdeclarelayer{behind} 
 \pgfdeclarelayer{foreground} 
 \pgfsetlayers{behind,background,main,foreground}
% from https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/460842/121799
%
% ~~~ drawing each character ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
\tikzset{pics/.cd,
  A/.style={
    code={
            % ~~~ the A's outer shape (start, up, down) ~~~
            \draw[pic actions] 
            (0,-0.5) -- (0.3,0.4) -- (0.6,-0.5);
            % ~~~ the A's line in the middle ~~~~~~~
            \draw[pic actions](0.1,1/3-0.45) -- coordinate(-mid)
            (0.5,1/3-0.45);
            % ~~~│ some kind of advance ~~~
            \path (0.7,0);
      }
    },
  %
  1/.style={
    code={
            % ~~~ the 1, with coordinate defined for the middle ~~~
            \draw[pic actions] 
            (0.3,0.4)-- coordinate(-mid) (0.3,-.1) -- (0.3,-0.5);
            % ~~~│ some kind of advance ~~~
            \path (0.7,0);
      }
    },
  %
  4/.style={
    code={
            % ~~~ the 4, with coordinate defined for the middle ~~~
            \draw[pic actions] 
            (0.5,0.4)-- (0.5,-0.5);
            \draw[pic actions] 
            (0.1,0.4)-- coordinate(-mid) (0.1,-.1) -- (0.6,-.1);
            % ~~~│ some kind of advance ~~~
            \path (0.7,0);
      }
    },
  %
}
% ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
\begin{document}
 \begin{tikzpicture}
  \begin{scope}[local bounding box=letters]
    % ~~~ left column of letters A-Z ~~~~~~~~
    \foreach \X [count=\Y] in {A,1,4}
     {
        % ~~~ drawing upper and lower line for the characters ~~~
        \draw[thick,blue] (0,-\Y-0.25) -- ++ (5,0) (0,-\Y+0.25) -- ++ (5,0);
        % ~~~ drawing the character as a \pic ~~~~~~~~~~
        \path[thick] (0.5,-\Y) pic[scale=0.5](\X){\X}% first solid character
            % ~~~ introducing 4 dashed characters ~~~
            foreach \Z in {1,...,4}
            {(\Z+0.5,-\Y) pic[scale=0.5,dash pattern=on 1.5pt off 1.2pt]{\X}}
        ;
    % ~~~ drawing the dashed red line in the middle
    \begin{pgfonlayer}{background}
      \draw[red,dashed] (0,-\Y|-\X-mid) -- ++ (5,0);
    \end{pgfonlayer}
  }
        % ~~~ NOT NEEDED HERE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        %   % ~~~ right column of letters a-z ~~~~~~~~
        %   \foreach \X [count=\Y] in {a,...,z}
        %    {\draw[thick,blue] (6,-\Y-0.25) -- ++ (5,0) (6,-\Y+0.25) -- ++ (5,0);
        %     \path[thick] (6.5,-\Y) pic[scale=0.5](\X){\X} foreach \Z in {1,...,4}
        %     {(\Z+6.5,-\Y) pic[scale=0.5,dash pattern=on 1.5pt off 1.2pt]{\X}};
        %    \begin{pgfonlayer}{background}
        %     \draw[red,dashed] (6,-\Y|-\X-mid) -- ++ (5,0);
        %    \end{pgfonlayer}
        %     }  

\end{scope}
% ~~~ NOT NEEDED HERE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   % ~~~ putting all those blueish colors on paper ~~~

%  \begin{pgfonlayer}{behind}
%    \path[left color=cyan!10,right color=cyan!30] 
%       (letters.south west) rectangle (letters.north east);
%  \end{pgfonlayer}
%  \draw[line width=2mm,blue!30] ([xshift=-3mm,yshift=3mm]letters.north west) 
%       -- ([xshift=-3mm,yshift=-3mm]letters.south west);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Answer 2

Thanks to your great help, I figured out the other digits. It was good fun!

    \pgfdeclarelayer{behind} 
    \pgfdeclarelayer{foreground} 
       \pgfsetlayers{behind,background,main,foreground}
    % from     https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/460842/121799
    %
    % ~~~ drawing each character     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    \tikzset{pics/.cd,
     9/.style={code={\draw[pic actions] (0.2,0.15) circle[x radius=0.2,y radius=0.25]; 
    \draw[pic actions] (0.4,-0.5) -- coordinate[pos=0.5](-mid)(0.4,0.4);}}, 
      %
      6/.style={code={\draw[pic actions] (0.2,-0.25) circle[x radius=0.2,y radius=0.25];
    \draw[pic actions] (0.0,-0.175) -- coordinate[pos=0.5](-mid)(0.3,0.4);}}, 
      %
      %
      2/.style={
    code={
            % ~~~ the 4, with coordinate defined for the middle ~~
            \draw[pic actions]
   (0,0.25) to[out=45,in=45,looseness=2.5]  (0,-0.45);
  \draw[pic actions](0,-0.45) -- (0.5,-0.45);
   \path (0.7,0);}},
    1/.style={code={\draw[pic actions] (0.3,0.4) -- (0.3,-0.5);}}, 
  %
        4/.style={code={\draw[pic actions] (0.3,0.4) -- (0.3,-0.5);
    \draw[pic actions] (0,0.4) -- (0,-0.1) -- (0.5,-0.1);}}, 
  %
    Is    5/.style={code={\draw[pic actions] (0.5,0.4) -- (0,0.4) -- (0,0.1)-- (0.15,0.1);
\draw (0.15,0.1) arc(90:-90:0.4cm and 0.275cm);
\draw[pic actions] (0,-0.45) -- (0.15,-0.45);
%\draw (-0.02,0.1) arc(90:-90:0.5cm and 0.3cm);
  %\draw[pic actions] (0,0.1)  to[out=0,in=0,looseness=3] (0,-0.45);
  }}, 
  %
        3/.style={code={
\draw (0.0,0.35) arc(130:-90:0.25cm and 0.2cm);
\draw (0.15,0) arc(90:-120:0.3cm and 0.225cm);
  }}, 
  %
   7/.style={code={\draw[pic actions] (0.0,0.4) -- (0.5,0.4) -- (0.2,-0.45);
  }}, 
  %
     8/.style={code={
 \draw (0.25,0.4) arc(90:-90:0.2cm and 0.2cm);
  \draw (0.25,0.4) arc(90:270:0.2cm and 0.2cm);
   \draw (0.25,0) arc(90:-90:0.25cm and 0.25cm);
  \draw (0.25,0) arc(90:270:0.25cm and 0.25cm);
  }}, 
  %
      0/.style={code={
 \draw (0.25,0.4) arc(90:-90:0.25cm and 0.45cm);
  \draw (0.25,0.4) arc(90:270:0.25cm and 0.45cm);
  }}, 
  %
}
 % ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
\begin{document}
 \begin{tikzpicture}

\begin{scope}[local bounding box=letters]
    % ~~~ left column of letters A-Z ~~~~~~~~
    \foreach \X [count=\Y] in {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0}
     {
        % ~~~ drawing upper and lower line for the characters ~~~
        \draw[thick,blue] (0,-\Y-0.25) -- ++ (5,0) (0,-\Y+0.25) -- ++ (5,0);
        % ~~~ drawing the character as a \pic ~~~~~~~~~~
        \path[thick] (0.5,-\Y) picscale=0.5{\X}% first solid character
            % ~~~ introducing 4 dashed characters ~~~
            foreach \Z in {1,...,4}
            {(\Z+0.5,-\Y) pic[scale=0.5,dash pattern=on 1.5pt off 1.2pt]{\X}}
        ;
  }
        % ~~~ NOT NEEDED HERE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        %   % ~~~ right column of letters a-z ~~~~~~~~
        %   \foreach \X [count=\Y] in {a,...,z}
        %    {\draw[thick,blue] (6,-\Y-0.25) -- ++ (5,0) (6,-\Y+0.25) -- ++ (5,0);
        %     \path[thick] (6.5,-\Y) pic[scale=0.5](\X){\X} foreach \Z in {1,...,4}
        %     {(\Z+6.5,-\Y) pic[scale=0.5,dash pattern=on 1.5pt off 1.2pt]{\X}};
        %    \begin{pgfonlayer}{background}
        %     \draw[red,dashed] (6,-\Y|-\X-mid) -- ++ (5,0);
        %    \end{pgfonlayer}
        %     }  

\end{scope}
% ~~~ NOT NEEDED HERE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   % ~~~ putting all those blueish colors on paper ~~~

%  \begin{pgfonlayer}{behind}
%    \path[left color=cyan!10,right color=cyan!30] 
%       (letters.south west) rectangle (letters.north east);
%  \end{pgfonlayer}
%  \draw[line width=2mm,blue!30] ([xshift=-3mm,yshift=3mm]letters.north west) 
%       -- ([xshift=-3mm,yshift=-3mm]letters.south west);
\end{tikzpicture}
    \end{document}